Natasha, Tyler, Lewis, and I left this morning by 730am where we caught 2 buses and then 2 trains to get us to Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains. It took us about 3 hours to get there. After taking the first 2 buses we had just missed the train so we had to wait, not for long, but missing that first bus caused us to have to wait 20 minutes for the next train (so glad I brought my book alaong, now I know why everyone always has a booke with them around here. You will always see people on the trains or buses with something to read or some kind of work to do. I always enjoyed watching where we were going but when you take the train half time you are underground).
waiting for the bus
We finally arrived to Katoomba, it was such a cute little old town. It was gorgeous out, perfect weather. We were so happy we picked today to come to the Blue Mountains because it was so clear. We walked through the town passing all the charming café’s, restaurants, and stores as we made our way towards the Blue Mountains. We first saw the 3 sisters and Katoomba waterfall.
Katoomba Waterfall
The Three Sisters
I think this is called Castle Rock
Attempted to take a group photo balancing the camera on the rail
It was so pretty and clear we loved it. We then headed down another path, which was very muddy and hard to get through but well worth it. At the other end of the trail was a beautiful waterfall, it was so relaxing and peaceful.
the muddy trail
Trying not to fall (already slipped once)
The weather was ideal and the waterfall was remarkable so we decided we wanted to climb it and get a picture up at the top. This turned into quite the adventure but was by far one of my favorite parts of the trip. Watching six foot four Lewis try and climb up the slippery waterfall was probably one of the funniest things. We all hopped up pretty easily as he struggled just to get is foot up and then once he got to the top where we were he stepped in a huge whole which made the water go up past his knees. We all were laughing so hard.
The slippery climb up
close up
After safely making our way back down the waterfall we hiked back up and looked at the three sisters from another lookout point. After that we decided we wanted to take the cable car across to the other side called the scenic world. As we were waiting in line we saw these huge clouds rolling in towards us. As we got on the cable car huge crashes of thunder began.
The cable car we took across
Scenic World
The ride across was beautiful, there was a class bottom so you could see so many different interesting and gorgeous things. It began to sprinkle on our way over but we though nothing of it. We got to the other end and took another cable car down to the bottom of the mountain. As we descended the rain started coming down hard.
You can see the rain cloud shadows on the mountain
Beginning of the rain
By the time we reached the bottom it was pouring. We unfortunately were not able to enjoy the scenic walk through the bottom of the mountain because we had to run to the other side in the pouring rain to catch the rail back up. We reached the rail and it looked like we had dumped buckets of water on each other. Even though we were not able to enjoy the views like we had planned it made it a great adventure.
Tyler
Natasha
Just a little wet
A cool thing we did while taking the cable car and railway was we did the opposite of what you were supposed to do which made the experience very unique. So we took the cable car down the mountain when people normally take it up and we took the railway up when people normally take it down. I really enjoyed doing it that way. On our way back over their had been clouds that formed down in the mountains. It was beautiful.
Once getting back to the other side of the mountain the rain had calmed down so we decided to walk to a coffee shop to get a bite to eat and a warm drink. On our way there we passed an aborigine memorial that was really captivating.
We ended up grabbing a bite and coffee at the Three Sisters World Heritage Plaza. Inside they had restaurants, shops, aborigine music and dancing and a lot more.
We finished our food and wanted to walk back but it was pouring once again. We tried to wait it out but it was not letting up so we decided to take the trolley back to the train station.
Wouldn't be a trip without rain
rain video (can you hear the thunder)
After waiting forever for the trolley we got on and it was a quick ride over, unfortunately as we got to the train station the train we were supposed to catch was just pulling out of the station. It was 45 minutes till the next train so we went to a pub right across the street called The Carrington Blue Mountains. First things first we went to the bathroom and stood under the hand dryers trying to warm up and dry off. It worked pretty well I have to say. We met a very nice bar tender who gave us tips on places to go and the hot spots and then we sat and were recapping the day and having a lot of good laughs.
Drying off and killing some time
We just barely made the next train as we cut it a little close we had to run to catch the train. We thankfully got on the train and got settled in for the 3 hour trip ahead of us. On the main train we were on there was a very cute little baby who ended up playing with us. She was adorable! She loved playing with my book and Lewis’ shoelaces.
Finally we were back at Macquarie University. We decided we wanted to try Kangaroo so the boys went to the store to buy the meet and tash and I agreed to make everything else. We went to Tash and Tyler’s apartment where I met their new roommate Tim who was also from New Jersey and went to Rutgers (the same school Tyler goes to but they didn’t know each other). We made a delicious kangaroo dinner, it was a group effort. I made a salad and brought yams and green beans. Tyler had potatoes and the meat. It turned out to be a lovely dinner. The kangaroo was not that bad either kind of tasted like steak. The ‘steak’ kangaroo was tough and hard to chew but the ‘fillet’ was perfect.
After cleaning up we hung out for a while and I was wiped out from our long day so I headed back to my place. When I walked outside I was greeted by the pleasant construction that was being set up. This construction of them digging up and repaving the road happened all throughout the night right in front of our apartments and I thought the birds were annoying. Also when I got home I freaked out because I saw a cockroach in my room. I was standing on my bed screaming and freaking out when Suzy came to the rescue and killed the cockroach. I found it a little hard to sleep after seeing the cockroach and with all the construction noises, but thank god for my earplugs still can hear a lot but it would be way worse without them these walls and windows are paper thin.
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